It’s been a long time. The Washington Capitals are back in action, opening up their 2011-2012 season at home. Hosting the Carolina Hurricanes, the Caps have a lot of drama in their rear view, and a lot of questions to answer. Goalie drama, Alex Ovechkin’s return to glory, Sasha cares, the new guys, offensive doldrums. You’ve heard it all before. Get ready for some answers.

In the second period Eric Staal put the puck past a sucked-out Michal Neuvirth. Hooked up by a smart outlet pass from John Carlson, Alex Semin guided the puck in to tie it up. That near-goal Jason Chimera breakaway thing happened for the billionth time, but Jason finally hit his target. But Eric Staal tied it up early in the third by waiting in the right spot. On a climactic 5 on 3, gorgeous Brooks Laich returned the rebound. But with the extra skater, Jussi Jordache Jokinen snuck one past Neuvy. In a penalty-ridden OT, Mike Green served the puck into– and beyond– Boucher’s love-making region. Game over. Caps win 4-3 (OT).

Lemme open with this: The Capitals have snapped the Curse of the Oil Painting. Having lost four consecutive and not unimportant games since we posted that story, the Caps have said they are masters of their own destiny.

For such an early game, it’s odd that we got the leftover goalies. The Canes gave Cam Ward the night off after he gave up 5 the night before, so Brian Boucher got the nod. With the team that we actually care about, Tomas Vokounwas the one with the numb rear end. His services will be more dearly needed against the Bolts and Pens this week, so we’re happy to see our boy Neuvy out there.

I don’t like the term “new-look”, so I’m not gonna use it. But these Capitals had a somewhat novel appearance tonight.

The Caps were really in control tonight, with 17 scoring chances to Carolina’s 11.

Semin’s and Chimera’s goals were showstoppers, but the team can’t rely on that style for production. We’ve yet to see the reliable bank of scoar from which we’ll be withdrawing all season.

MathieuPerreault, who made the roster by doing well in games that don’t count, acquitted himself quite well tonight. He was on-ice for 4 scoring chances, 2 of which he created his own damn self. Might as well rent an apartment in Ballston or take over Karl Alzner’s guest room; he’s gonna be around for a bit.

Mike Knuble had at least four opportunities for kanoobing tonight, but converted none. It’ll happen.

Brooks Laich‘s crucial goal was his first since March 15th.

Finally, congratulations to Sarah M. who won RMNB’s first-ever pick em’ contest. Ian promises your prizes are in the mail.

Joe B. Suit of the Night

It feels good to be back. Just 1/82nd into the campaign, and we’ve already seen some riotous hockey fun. Yeah, it was a slow start, but c’mon! Halfway into that third period, didn’t this feel just like the kind of Caps game you love? High-scoring, unnecessarily dramatic, Craig Laughlin saying things that don’t really make sense, and the big hero moment! You see that net– the one Brian Boucher was in front of? That thing was thoroughly crashed.

I loved this game. What did you think?

See you on Monday.

Additional reporting by Neil Greenberg, who gets tweeted at a lot when Chimera scores.

“Craig Laughlin saying things that dont really make sense” That was brilliant Peter

http://www.ksbrooks.com K.S. Brooks

Great to see that Backstrom got 2 assists. Hopefully these guys will have their chemistry back this season.

http://twitter.com/ianoland Ian Oland

Backstrom looked great tonight! His move in the third period — where he chipped the puck in the air past the Hurricanes defenseman in the slot and went in untouched on goal — was a work of art that I would buy and hang on my wall.

Came down from Philly to see the game and definitely noticed/agreed with all of the stuff you (very very awesomely) mention above. Only other things I really noticed that didn’t get mentioned were:

– How awesome was the ward-laich-chimera line tonight? Every time they were on the ice (usually against Skinner-Staal-some Finnish bum) they were dominant, generating chances, etc. I hope that line stays together and intact through the inevitable shuffling (where does MJ90 in the lineup cause line combos to change, e.g.)

– I was more impressed by the other guy who played his way onto the team in Jay Beagle. He was chirping and skating hard all night. For a while there, it looked like Allen desperately wanted to take a stupid penalty b/c of it, and that’s exactly what I want to see out of that line.

– I’m interested in seeing how Brouwskie + Sasha is going to work. They seemed to keep trying to find each other, but Sasha’s proclivity for running a hitch route just inside the blue line, and Brouwers love of crashing the net led to a lot of instances where there was no way for them to interact.

Great recap. Was thrilled to see such a strong outing from Chimera — not much was said about him during the preseason. If he could actually have a consistent shooting touch with that speed, what a bonus. Go CAPS!

http://twitter.com/Funployee Greg Girard

Laich – Ward – Chimera looks to be an unstoppable line in terms of puck possession. They were wreaking havoc in the o-zone all night.

Pattyo

My favorite part was when Brouwer checked Ruutu into the boards. Hard. ‘Twas awesome!